Variations in Nitrogen Isotope Composition in Clay Deposits of the Permian–Triassic Boundary Beds in the Verkhoyansk Region (Northeast Asia) and Their Implication for Reconstruction of Marine Environments

Abstract

The first sediment N-isotope data on the Permian–Triassic boundary transition of the Verkhoyansk region are obtained. Together with the other published materials on other regions of eastern Russia allow us to distinguish a number of N-isotope intervals of various ranks in the Permian–Triassic of eastern Russia. In addition to the well-known method of reconstructing the redox conditions of the marine environment from N‑isotope data (in combination with data on elevated concentrations of redox-sensitive trace metals), the possibility of using N-isotope data also to determine the direction of temperature changes in the marine environment is substantiated. It is assumed that N-isotope signals are primarily a reflection of events associated with denitrification and N2 fixation, the main processes of the global nitrogen biogeochemical cycle (NBC). Deviations in the direction of increasing δ15N values in the considered sections are associated with an increase in upwelling activity and the supply of cool deep waters enriched in the heavy N isotope to the shelf zone; the opposite deviations are associated with a slowdown or cessation of inflow of cool deep waters. The N-isotope data obtained, in combination with the published materials on O-isotope thermometry in the Tethyan Superrealm during the Permian and Triassic, indicate a very likely coincidence of the direction of temperature changes caused by both regional (upwelling) and global (climatic) events of that time. In this regard, the reconstructions of the marine environment that we conduct by the example of the Permian–Triassic sections of Northeast Asia (Verkhoyansk, Kolyma–Omolon, and South Primorye) seem to be appropriate, although they require additional confirmation on the material from other sections of the world. The problems associated with differences in the average δ15N values in the Permian–Triassic sections of different provinces of the Boreal Superrealm, as well as other superrealms, are considered.